Articles on Animation 13 Jun 2007 08:05 am
Marc Davis Interview
– Years ago I had a copy of a lecture that Marc Davis had given in which he compared the differences and the similarities between two characters he animated, Cruella De Vil and Maleficent. He discussed their motivations and their style of exposition. It was quite an extraordinary commentary, I’d thought, but somehow I seem to have lost it.
It was a great acting lesson from a great animator, and it seemed to offer depth that I haven’t found elsewhere. I’ve found myself paraphrasing from the comments Davis had made and thought to search for the document.
I have found something with similar thoughts that were expressed in this interview that was conducted by A. Eisen for Crimmer’s: The Harvard Journal of Pictorial Fiction. The interview was published in 1975.
(I tried to locate A. Eisen but couldn’t find any other articles or information by anyone with that name. For that matter, I haven’t been able to locate any other editions of this publication. Burne Hogarth artwork is on the cover. Does anyone know of other issues?)
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There are other interviews with Marc Davis on line. I like this one with John Province. That interview also appeared in Didier Ghez‘s book, Walt’s People Vol. 1.
on 13 Jun 2007 at 11:08 am 1.Mark Mayerson said …
Hi Mike. As you know, I’m away from home so I don’t have access to my magazines. However, there were two or three issues of Crimmers. Comic book artist Gil Kane was interviewed in one of the issues and there was an article on Harvey Kurtzman in one as well. The magazine’s focus was more on comics than animation. When I get home in July, I’ll try and dig up the issues and see if there were any other animation articles.
on 13 Jun 2007 at 11:10 am 2.Mark Mayerson said …
Checking on line, I see that there were 3 issues
for sure. One was lacking the Crimmers name and just went by “The Harvard Journal of Pictorial Fiction.”
on 13 Jun 2007 at 12:24 pm 3.Michael said …
I knew I only had to ask the right person. Thanks, Mark. This issue also had an interview with John Hench. I’ll post that some other time.
on 14 Jun 2007 at 3:08 am 4.Didier Ghez said …
Guys,
Do you have access to Walt’s People – Volume 4? Apparently not
Both the Marc Davis and John Hench interviews from Crimmer’s are featured in that volume.
I managed to track down Armand Eisen a few months ago and got his authorization to reprint those. He is the head of a publishing house today and does not seem to have interviewed any other Disney artists apart from those.
on 14 Jun 2007 at 9:02 am 5.Michael said …
Sorry, Didier, I have Volume 4 in storage at the moment. I’m glad to hear that both interviews are in there. Thanks for the update on Armand Eisen. I’m not sure why Crimmer’s didn’t have the slightest bit of info on his bio.
on 14 Jun 2007 at 6:48 pm 6.Eddie Fitzgerald said …
Interesting article! It’s funny to think that Dr. Caligari had an influence on Disney cartoons. I think I see a little of Caligari in the rooftop set as you enter the Peter Pan ride in the Orange County Disneyland.